Budget 2016: The stories behind the numbers

Thousands of small-business owners will be freed of many account and audit requirements, as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley raised the turnover limit from Rs one crore to Rs two crore, while presenting his third budget. “At present about 33 lakh small business people avail of this benefit, which frees them from the burden … Continued

Thousands of small-business owners will be freed of many account and audit requirements, as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley raised the turnover limit from Rs one crore to Rs two crore, while presenting his third budget. “At present about 33 lakh small business people avail of this benefit, which frees them from the burden … Continued

Continuing the poetic trend seen in budget speeches, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley started with these lines, signalling the fiscal path of his government towards budget management during a global slowdown and farm distress at home. With agriculture growth contracting 1% in the October to December quarter of 2015 and growing only 1.1% … Continued

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, while presenting his third budget today, said the government will do away with plan (asset creation, etc.) and non-plan (salaries, interest payments, etc.) budgeting from 2017-18. This follows similar announcements by former Jammu & Kashmir Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu while presenting the 2015-16 budget, IndiaSpend had reported. The … Continued

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, while presenting his third budget today, said the government will do away with plan (asset creation, etc.) and non-plan (salaries, interest payments, etc.) budgeting from 2017-18. This follows similar announcements by former Jammu & Kashmir Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu while presenting the 2015-16 budget, IndiaSpend had reported. The … Continued

People watch a telecast of the annual budget, on the facade of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Budget remains the key turning point in the financial year, for everyone. India is expected to save Rs 1.2 lakh crore ($17.6 billion) because of reduced oil prices and increased excise duties. This is likely to … Continued

As Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presents his third budget on Monday, February 29, 2016, our analysis of how seven parameters changed over 10 years (2006 to 2015) reveals that subsidies grew fourfold. The rise in subsidies was echoed by the Economic Survey, which said that of the Rs 2.4 lakh crore ($34.8 billion) … Continued

The Ministry of Culture failed to spend Rs 353 crore ($51.8 million) over five years, IndiaSpend’s analysis reveal. In the most recent financial year for which data are available, 2013-14, Rs 172 crore ($25.3 million) was unused. With the budget coming up on February 29 and attention turning to how resources should … Continued ...

Public-health centres across India’s rural areas–25,308 in 29 states and seven union territories–are short of more than 3,000 doctors, the scarcity rising 200% (or tripling) over 10 years, according to government data. The data are a warning that a 15% cut in capital spending–which includes hiring more doctors and better equipping health centres–for … Continued

Amid criticism, central funding of national health programmes was cut 15% in the union health budget of 2015-16, but state health budgets–taken together–had already risen 21% the previous year, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of government data released in October 2015. However, this increase is not uniform across states, indicating that states–especially smaller … Continued